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ELKINS -- Elkins City Council has certified the results of the March 2 Elkins Municipal Election.
Meeting Wednesday, council certified the vote totals, which were unchanged from the results of Monday's vote canvass at the Phil Gainer Community Center.
During Monday's vote canvass, council reviewed 32 provisional ballots and accepted 22 of them, changing some vote totals but not the outcomes of any races.
Candidates had 48 hours from the close of the canvass to request recounts, but none did, enabling council to certify as final the declared vote tallies in all five city wards.
The new mayor and the five city council members elected will be sworn in March 31 and take office April 1.
Citywide, Jerry Marco won the office of mayor with 719 votes out of 1,039 cast. Votes for other mayoral candidates were as follows: Andrew Carroll, 146; D.C. Talkington, 5; and Karen Wilmoth, 169.
Also voted on by all city voters were three proposed charter amendments. A proposal to adopt the Mayor-Manager form of government was defeated 685 to 334. A proposal to pledge compliance with open government laws and a proposal to extend the mayor's term from two to four years succeeded 780 to 229 and 563 to 458, respectively.
In the First Ward council race, incumbent Robert Chenoweth retained his seat with 260 votes against two challengers, Phillips Kolsun, who received 62 votes, and Travis Norwood, who received 40 votes.
In the Second Ward council race, incumbent Charles Friddle III prevailed over challenger Carman Pennington, 95 to 76.
In the Third Ward council race, challenger Clint Higgins defeated incumbent Carman Metheny, 52 to 38.
There was no incumbent in the Fourth Ward council race, as Karen Wilmoth--whose term was expiring--filed to run for mayor instead. In Fourth Ward, a former council member, Nanci Bross-Fregonara, defeated first-time candidate Liz Marshall-MacVean, 143 to 98.
In Fifth Ward, incumbent David Parker received 72 votes, defeating challengers Howard Knapp, with 6 votes, and Burley Woods, with 67 votes.
The new mayor and all five council members elected will be sworn in at a special council meeting at 7 p.m. on March 31 at the Phil Gainer Community Center.